Protests against partial mobilization took place in Russian cities, the Daily Mail reports.
Videos of demonstrators holding “No mobilization” placards and chanting anti-war slogans have been posted on social media.
If Russians are so cruel to the tiny minority in Russia who protest against forced mobilisation, then you can only imagine how they cruel towards civilians in Ukraine. It happened today in Moscow. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/54Ph9VUvjV
— Oleksandra Matviichuk (@avalaina) September 21, 2022
According to the human rights Internet portal OVD-Info, “at least 1,321 people were detained at the protests in 39 cities.”
The leading cities in terms of the number of detainees were St. Petersburg – 479 people and Moscow – 542 detainees. Actions are also held in Moscow, Ufa, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude, Belgorod and other cities. The average number of protesters in cities ranges from a few dozen to 100.
В Новосибирске задержали местного жителя, крикнувшего силовикам «Я не хочу умирать за Путина и за вас!»https://t.co/pHDlfXJMMa
Видео: ACT-54 Black pic.twitter.com/dW1cOadVYY
— Медиазона (@mediazzzona) September 21, 2022
Several dozen anti-the mobilization protestors gathered on the central square in Novosibirsk, where one protester was taken into custody after shouting to police and FSB officers at a rally: “I’m not going to die for Putin or for you!”
Protests in Moscow and St Petersburg today have grown pretty large. People chanting “No to War!” Dozens of arrests reported pic.twitter.com/9F4E5VIy9E
— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) September 21, 2022
The official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Irina Volk, announced the suppression of unauthorized actions in the regions of the Russian Federation and also she called the number of their participants “insignificant.” However, the Moscow prosecutor’s office threatened residents of the city with administrative punishment and imprisonment for up to 15 years for organizing rallies against mobilization for participating in them or calling for them.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced a partial mobilization and signed a corresponding decree. Mobilization activities will begin by September 21, the Russian authorities planing to call up 300,000 reservists into the army.
In addition, the Russian leader noted that in Washington, London and Brussels “they are directly pushing Kyiv to transfer military operations to the territory of Russia.” According to Vladimir Putin, nuclear blackmail was used.